Just a quick note to let you know that the new issue of El Calendario de Todos Santos is now available for viewing online at:

www.elcalendariodetodossantos.com

The printed version will be on the streets in Todos Santos late on November 2. This issue’s art is by N.E. Hayles and the cover is beautiful – enjoy!

Not to jinx our continuing good luck this tropical storm season, but it appears that Todos Santos will once again miss the brunt of the storm. Saturday and Sunday were scary, watching Rick gain strength and projections had him making landfall slightly north of Todos Santos, then in Todos Santos and then south at Cabo San Lucas. Today Rick is projected to go south of Cabo and weaken to tropical storm  strength by then. Hopefully he will continue to head further south and spare Baja Sur all but the rain. For more hurricane info, check www.wunderground.com/tropical and www.nhc.noaa.gov

Speaking of rain, it’s been difficult to know when and where it has rained. The downpours have been very localized. Yesterday I was in Pescadero (7 miles south of Todos Santos) watching football and it stormed for nearly 1 hour. Satellite TV signals were lost but power stayed on. 7 miles north in Todos Santos, it hardly sprinkled at all. Today I drove to Cabo and from Art & Beer to Cabo San Lucas, it rained. Again, nearly not a drop in Todos Santos.

But fear not, it’s been a good rainy season. We have had our share. The roads are full of ruts to prove it!!!

It rained yesterday, Oct 12, Columbus Day for you all but Dia de la Raza here in Mexico and Dia del Pilar here in Todos Santos, Baja, Mexico. It was a very constant soaking rain. We have had a fair amount of rain this summer and thankfully avoided the brunt of tropical storms. The desert is green and the dirt roads in Todos Santos are severely rutted.

TS Patricia is heading for Cabo San Lucas at this moment. She is weakening quickly and forecast to make a hard turn to the west. 6:46 pm local time and we barely have a breeze and skies are mostly clear, maybe 30% clouds. It’s going to be a beautiful sunset.

The Mexican radar for our area shows Patricia to be strangely lacking in moisture. It’s hard to say if we will get anymore rain from this storm or not. And although the ocean is still very warm, this could be the end of our hurricane season. We have had cooler, dryer air off and on for a few days. This might be the end of the summertime blues. We can only hope.

This week the town of Todos Santos celebrates the day of its patron saint, Pilar. This is a yearly celebration held in the center of town over the course of several days. This year the dates are Oct 8 – 12. Festivities include performances, singing, dancing and music in the plaza as well as the coronation of the festival queen by the governor of Baja California Sur. There are also fishing tourneys, horse races and off road events. A lot of beer goes down a lot of throats and kilos upon kilos of carne asada is consumed. A midway is setup and there are rides and games for kids of all ages.

When the fun is all over, I’ll try to post some photos.

Fri Oct 30, 2009 5 pm – until?
Halloween Party, kids first and then adults
Location: Sandbar in Pescadero
Benefits the new Escuela Pacifica non-profit school. The fun starts at 5pm for the kiddies with food, games, a haunted house and costume parade. At 7:30 the live reggae music starts and so will the adult costume contest. Helen is serving her fabulous Mole and Veggie chili, with homemade cornbread, salads and desserts. Cover at door includes food.

Saturday, November 28, 2009, 11am – 3 pm
The Palapa Society’s 3rd Annual Tianguis (yard Sale) at The Palapa Center, Calle Obregon. All proceeds fund the BECA (school scholarship) Program. To donate items, be an event volunteer or more information call The Palapa Center at 145-0299.

Saturday, January 2, 2010, 9am
2nd Annual Romex Todos Santos 5K walk/run. Registration 7:30 am in the Plaza Marquez de Leon. Run starts 9 am. All proceeds to the Palapa Society Chino project. For more information contact: mikeandmir@yahoo.com

January 30 – February 6, 2010
XIII Festival del Arte Todos Santos

Sunday, February 28, 2010, 10 am – 3 pm
The Palapa Society’s 16 Annual Historic House Tour. Registration at The Centro Cultural. Please contact us if you would like to be an event volunteer or for more information, 145-0299.

March 1 – 14, 2010
7th Annual Festival de Cine de Todos Santos. The festival will open in La Paz March 1-3, Todos Santos March 4-7, and San José del Cabo March 12-14. Good films, stars and fun!

I will add more info and events as I become aware of them.

Just thought I would pass these along:

Fri Oct 30, 2009 8:00pm
Galerias Pax Painting contest
Location: Guillermo Prieto 1250, col. Centro, La Paz, BCS

Sat Oct 31, 2009
Halloween at Hotel California in Todos Santos
Costumes, prizes, raffles and music, free admission. Benefits Grupo USP, Group for Security of the Beaches who are training lifeguards for Cerritos and other beaches.

Fri Nov 6, 2009 7:00pm
Twinings, Stories and Dances from the Third World
SunErgos Theatre Touring Company will present the production “Twinings, Stories and Dances from the Third World”. Explore man’s sense of wit, humor and wisdom as SunErgos celebrates the variety and unity of traditional tales, dance and myth from around the world. All proceeds will support the BECA Scholarship Program of The Palapa Society of Todos Santos, A.C. This event is made possible by the generosity of Greg Morris and Natalie Carrington of Alberta, Canada. Tickets: Adults $50 pesos, Children $20 pesos.
La Canada del Diablo in Todos Santos

Sun Nov 15, 2009 4:00pm
Open Reading at Michael’s at the Gallery in Todos Santos
Please come and read your original work under five minutes. New readers welcome. Drinks available for purchase.

Just a couple of quick photos of the neighborhood from my second floor. Both were taken this morning around 7 am MDT while moderate winds were still blowing. The strongest winds were obscured by darkness – not good for photos.

Sept 2 - 7am MDT - My Neighbor's Palapa and Palms in the Wind

Sept 2 - 7am MDT - Looking West Towards Pacific Ocean

I drove around town looking to see what damage the storm might have done. Basically none! Streets are dirty with leaves, mud and some small tree limbs. Cafelix lost his big metal sign – the metal post appears to have blown over at the sidewalk level.

Many businesses are closed. There aren’t many people out on the streets, tourists  or local. Town is quiet.  I am not going to post photos since there is nothing to really see.

Right now the sun is out, skies partly cloudy, temps moderate, the wind is still blowing from the south at 20+ mph and there are whitecaps on the ocean. Jimena was odd in that the winds never shifted. Normally when a storm passes on the west side of us, we get southeast, then south, then west winds. The winds have been from the south for the entire storm period. Go figure.

Also odd this storm – the fact that we mostly didn’t lose power, water or phone. I heardthat some localized areas lost power due to their transformers failing but there was not a system wide failure. Kudos to CFE (electric commission), aqua municipal and Telmex.

That’s all for now.

Hey, no worries. The storm moved a bit more to the west. The rain stopped and the winds started last night around 9-10 pm. We never lost electricity in Las Tunas nor internet access. Que milagro!

No flooding in my area. Winds were likely 40-50 mph with gusts up to 65-70 most of last night – that much wind makes a fair amount of noise. Still windy now but less so. Looking around my neighborhood I see no signs of damage. I’ll check out Todos Santos proper later today and post photos.

You know what – this storm should be kicking us but it isn’t – I don’t know why but at 9:14 pm MDT we have winds and some rain but no killer storm. Jimena seems to have weakened and must have moved even further to the west. Todos Santos is okay as of this hour. Let’s thanks our angels that protect us — once again we have dodged a terrible storm or so it seems.